


Exit Stage Left

by WakeUpToJustice



Category: Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena
Genre: Angst, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Post-Canon, Recovery, just lots of crying and kissing and venting, references to canon trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:13:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21866539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WakeUpToJustice/pseuds/WakeUpToJustice
Summary: Having brought Revolution to the world, two lovers reunite after a protracted separation.
Relationships: Himemiya Anthy/Tenjou Utena
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25





	Exit Stage Left

It takes you three weeks of searching. You spend the first week in a dingy motel, scouring phone books and internet forums for a lead. The second week is a non-stop road trip, a blur of hitchhikes, train rides, and lonely treks down empty roads. The third week, you’re scouring Osaka, learning street names and sleeping on park benches, until at last, one glorious Tuesday morning, you find her.

She’s already made changes. Gone is her lengthy hair, buzzed down to an undercut flaring up from her forehead. Gone is her regal men’s uniform, replaced with torn-up khakis and a leather jacket coated in double-venus pins and pride flag badges. Gone is the oblivious confidence of her stride, replaced with a depressive slouching exacerbated by the bags under her eyes. 

But it’s still Utena; the same pastel-pink hair, slender features, and deep blue eyes, overflowing with sympathy and love when they meet yours. You even think you see some of that old confidence in her gait when she runs to embrace you. 

You meet her with arms wide open, latching on for dear life. The two of you hold each other with fear, fear that this reunion is just another cruel illusion. But then the fear subsides; you feel her heat, run your fingers through the remains of her hair, feel her tears staining your shoulder, and you realize that this has to be real. It is right for it to be real; no illusion could capture her every last detail so perfectly. You squeeze her closer with renewed confidence, all while she whispers your name in your ear:

“Anthy… Anthy, it’s really you.” 

You assure yourself as much as you do her. “I’m here, Utena. I’m here.” 

The two of you stood there for what feels like a small eternity, absorbing one another’s presence with the focus of someone who’s just emerged from a sensory deprivation tank. Eventually, it started to rain, and you had to seek cover in a nearby train station. You sat on a bench, leaning your head on her shoulder, listening to the patter of the rain on the roof above you. 

Then Utena started to laugh. 

“What’s so funny?” You asked her. 

She gasped for breath between giggles. “You fucking stabbed me, dude.” 

You blushed, embarrassed. “Oh. That. I’m sorry.” 

Utena calmed down, patting your shoulder reassuringly. “Don’t worry. I needed it. I was being a tool.  _ His _ tool.”

Now it was your turn to perform reassuring pats. “You’re not alone in that crime, and you’re not his tool anymore.” 

She nodded, looking towards the glass roof of the empty station. “They’ve forgotten all about me, haven’t they?” 

“They talk about you as if you’re some sort of ghost. The student council, the teachers, even Wakaba.” 

“Heh. Figures.” She was still, immaculate; the LED light on the wall above you put her features in sharp relief, giving her the appearance of a resting saint from some somber renaissance painting. “It’s so strange, Anthy. It was like the border between dream and reality; like watching a stage play about your life. I don’t even know how we’re supposed to go back to… the real world, I guess.” 

You grab her hand. “I don’t know either, but we can figure it out. There are bound to be people like us. People who feel our pain.” 

“Our pain…” she reaches out to you, touching your chest, where the swords had pierced you so many times. Tears amass at the corner of her eyes. “Oh, Anthy, I had no idea!”

You embrace yet again, letting her sobs rack your body. You cry too. The swords may have been illusions, but the pain is still real; the Hatred of Men is everywhere in this world, permeating the atmosphere. That’s not why you’re crying though. 

She’s stopped sobbing now; only the occasional sniffle escapes her. “I’m so sorry…”

You tighten your embrace. “Utena, listen to me. “You were incredibly foolish, I can’t deny that. Yet you were also incredibly brave. You did the one thing no one else was willing to do; you shared in my pain, and in doing so, You Revolutionized the World. We may carry this pain to our graves, but you showed me a world beyond it: a world where I can live, despite the pain, because I have love and support. Because I have you.” 

She sniffles again, backing away to stare at you with those majestic blue eyes. “Anthy, I-”

You cut her off, pressing your index finger against her lips. “Tenjou Utena, you have got to have one of the thickest skulls I’ve ever encountered. For a while, I feared that you would become just like the rest of those ring-wearing tools, and for a while, you were. You hurt me, Utena, but you redeemed yourself. You saw the way out, even after I quite literally stabbed you in the back, and you took it. You showed me how to have a life again. I forgive you, Utena, and I love you. I only hope that you can forgive me, too.”

She smiles, brightly and genuinely. It’s more beautiful than a sunrise. “Of course I forgive you, Anthy. You were braver than any of us, enduring that torment alone for so long. I could never have found myself without you. I love you more than anything.” 

You smile right back, leaning in to get closer to that divine face of hers. “Thank you, Utena. You mean the world to me. Now shut up and kiss me.”

She takes the initiative without hesitation, pressing her lips so tightly against yours you think she’s trying to fuse your faces together. It’s the most spectacular feeling in the world, the warmth of your bodies cycling between the two of you as your lips part, tongues interlocking in a blind display of unhindered affection. You pause occasionally, letting her drape your hair around her fingers or stare into your giddy face, appreciating her every detail with your every sense, then returning to the blind, sensual, glorious kissing. 

You don’t know how long you spent there, enjoying each other in the most unapologetically romantic way possible. All you do know is that the two of you eventually started to tire, and came to a mutual, silent agreement to simply sit together on the bench, letting time pass.

“Now that we’re free,” she begins, softly. “What would you like to do?” 

You pause for a moment. “Well, I think it would be a sound idea to finish school, if that’s even possible, or necessary. But after that? I want to be a martial artist.” 

She chuckles a little. “Martial artist? You?”

“Yeah! Like a boxer or MMA fighter or something.” You look into her eyes, determined. “I nearly choked myself to death playing the part of princess. I have a sea of emotions that I need to pour out, be it joy, love, sadness, or anger.” You pause and look down, muttering under your breath. “So much anger.” 

You return your gaze to her’s. “I want to vent that anger constructively, into something I can excel at, and what’s better for that than competitive fighting? So yes, I’m going to be a martial artist, and I think I’m going to be a pretty fucking good one.”

Her eyebrows shoot up. “That sounds hot.”   
“Hell yeah it does! It’s gonna be fantastic. And you’ll be right there alongside me, picking me up when I need it the most.”

She smirks. “And I assume you’ll do the same for me?”

You take her hand again. “Of course. Always.” 

As you move your lips towards yours, you are flooded with an overwhelming confidence. Not in the martial arts thing, heavens no; that will probably be a disaster. But a confidence in Utena, and in your relationship with her. You’ve hurt each other, gone through horrible suffering with one another, and were probably going to face even more hardship, in a variety of forms, later down the line. But you were stronger than that; you shared in that suffering, and found it within yourselves to forgive one another. Your relationship had been forged in the fires of hell, and because of that, it was stronger than steel.

So bring on the hardships, and bring them on fast. You’re Utena and Anthy. You Revolutionized the World; there’s nothing in it that you can’t handle together.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed the fic! This was just a detox piece I wrote after finishing Utena, and me trying to get some dang fanfiction published after a little over half a year off.


End file.
